midterms and a funny picture

i haven't written on this ol' blog of mine for a long time. that's because it's midterms week(s) here at BYU. last week i had midterms on wednesday, thursday and friday. this week i have midterms on monday, tuesday, and friday and a huge research paper due on wednesday, just to keep me on my toes i guess.

i took my history test on friday and was shocked by my grade (62%). turns out everyone in the class did really really poorly. our teacher realized this and saw that he had messed up on the answer key, so our grades will all actually be a lot better, alhamdulillah.

my teacher is a funny man. he sent out an email to us all, apologizing profusely and sent us the above picture so we could take out our anger before meeting him again face to face in class.

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a little unexpected romance...

yesterday my roommate (ginny) and i went to the library to study.

on the way there i started saying, "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to study very diligently for two hours straight." but instead i decided to be so funny and say "ok ginny, our goal tonight is to get asked on a date."

she laughed (i succeeded in being so funny) and we continued up the hill. we went to the infamous "no shhh! zone" which is a section of the library where you can talk, listen to music, and even socialize if you're bold. we found an empty table and sat down.

behind us was the most interesting thing. there were two boys and two girls sitting at the table which was covered in a lovely, lacy tablecloth, with a candle in its center (the battery operated sort). the candle was surrounded by chocolate kisses, and romantic music floated around them all. it made our table look so lame.

before we could get our books our of our over-stuffed bags, shawn (as i later learned he was called) came up to us and asked if one of us would be willing to be his friend's date for the night, as his had left. ginny didn't want to, but since i hate to turn down the opportunity to serve, i said i would. i went and sat with them. shawn felt bad for ginny, so he went and found her a date too.

there we all were. three dates. it was oh so romantic. shawn and his date (maddie) had been friends for a while, but this was their first date. they were studying together. they had sat at a table already occupied by nathan (my date) and had subsequently found him two other dates before me... they apparently didn't enjoy it. ginny's date was a boy named john, who i think was just 19.

it was all very random, and luckily ginny and i got a ton of chocolate out of it. none of us got a ton of homework done, but we all quickly became (facebook) friends (where we made all sorts of connections through the "friends in common" feature) and had a lot of fun trying to make each other feel awkward.

(yes, we are all holding hands. we had to.)

all in all, it was a good date. i'd do it again.

ginny and i are about to head back up to the library... and what shall i set as my goal this time...?

i am canadian

(photo from here)

today is canadian thanksgiving.

sadly, it's come to mean little to me. we don't get the day off here, so it usually goes by without me even noticing. however, i thought that since i did remember this year, i should, in commemoration, do something. there's a canadian boy who i've become friends with recently who brought some canadianisms to my attention that i had not yet thought of, and so, i share them. please join me in this brief comparison of canada and the usa... mainly in reference to language.

usa canada

canceled, traveled cancelled, travelled

color, humor colour, humour

judgment judgement

check cheque

realize, apologize realise, apologise

defense defence

theater, center theatre, centre

mold, smolder mould, smoulder

civilization civilisation

licorice liquorice

*these are examples from a textbook i'm reading called A Writer's Refence by diana hacker. no wonder i've been so confused for so long. i just thought i was bad at spelling certain words.

this little pronunciation oddity was brought to my attention twice in the last month. strangely i had never heard it in my eight and a half years living in america.

say this word: resource

if you're american, you likely pronounced it like it's spelled: re-source. if, however, you are canadian, you probably said it like i do: re-zource. ask your friends. weird huh?

oh, and how about this:

grammar rules say that you keep all punctuation outside of parenthesis (if you're in america, that is).

if you're in canada, you keep punctuation inside (which has thrown me off many times in papers and things.)

i'm sure their are many more, and maybe some of these aren't completely true. many are things i've just heard from people. i'm sure their are several... not to mention cultural phenomena like the removal of shoes in canadian homes, and the fact that canadians all have dogsleds, and live in igloos with lamps that use whale blubber... oh canada.

on this day of thanks, i am thankful to be a canadian.

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three years ago today...

i got my mission call to los angeles. wow, time flies.

it's been an amazing three years.

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fall and some things

i love fall weather.

is it just me or are fall clothes the most fun to wear?

i love so much that i can now delve into my collection of scarves, leggings, gloves, jackets, long socks, leg-warmers, arm-warmers, hats, sweaters and most lovely of all... tights. i have many of all of them.

oh it's wonderful. i untangled all my tights yesterday and i was so pleased with the assortment. summer's heat had caused me to forget i even owned some of these. i wore the ones on the far left to church today.

i think i'll start wearing skirts more this fall.

my feet and legs feel like they're in some sort of dreamland (hence the blurry, dreamy edges on the photograph that i added fro a dreamy effect).

(please note my amazing cable-knit sweater-like leggings)

i think part of why i'm so excited is the fact that my last real fall was 3 years ago. 2006.

i was in los angeles in 2007 and then in jerusalem in 2008. i hardly realized how much i missed it till it came this year.

here's something weird too: so you know how memories are induced by smells? or tastes or other random things? i've realized that it's true about weather too. as i walk around on campus lately i keep finding myself reminiscing and and getting lost in memory - but all my memories are coming from the last time i felt weather like this! fall 2006. it's so bizarre. i keep thinking random things about the boy i was dating at the time, the kids to used to nanny, favorite music of the time, the house i used to live in, and even clothes i used to own. it's just very weird, yet, kind of intriguing.

oh fall. how mysterious you are.

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self-portrait contest

you may have heard about his already here, but i guess i should advertise as well...?

there was a self-portrait photo contest a couple weeks ago, and i didn't plan on entering it, but on the night of the deadline i got an email from brooklyn with her entries, and her suggestion that i try it.

we sent a couple emails back and forth laughing kind of at the awkwardness felt of actually entering a photo contest with a picture taken of yourself, by yourself... it's a little strange... but i decided i might as well, right?

so i got home from campus around 1o (the photos were dues by midnight) and our power was out. i laughed as i lit a candle so my picture could have natural light instead of using a ghastly flash. i took several, and for some reason i look very forlorn in all of them. likely a result of my cold, dark house.

we were allowed to edit our pictures a little, so i made it almost black and white (it's was very red previously... remember, candle light). so i entered it into the contest, and she (the sussy) went and posted them all over her blog (much to our surprise and dismay...it makes you feel very vulnerable).

anyway, i guess the winner needs to get the most votes... so you should go vote for me. or brooklyn. or whoever's picture you like the best. some are awesome, some are funny, some are awkward. mine's probably awkward.

vote here.

or don't, but take a look at least. votes need to be in by midnight tonight!

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i love it so much!

ok, it sounds and maybe looks disgusting, but i am in love with this meal. seriously, i sometimes can't believe how amazing it tastes. i'm eating it as i type and i can't help vocalizing my approval. good thing i'm home alone. oh my goodness! SO good!

so, when you don't have a car, and you do most of your shopping at costco once a month, you tend to get creative as food supplies run short, and thank goodness! this little concoction of mine has been a favorite for some time now, but tonight i just enhanced it significantly.

first let me say, i love rice and i love beans (black or kidney... preferably black). i gained this on my mission. i could eat rice and beans every day and be oh so happy. one day, when it was rice and beans again for dinner, i decided to try to spice it up a little. i was wishing i had some sour cream, or, even better, this stuff that hermana salgado used to give me in LA called crema i think. mmm, so good. anyway, all i had was cottage cheese and i figured, "it's made of the same stuff, right?" so i added it to the warm rice and beans, threw a little salt on there and was nearly overcome with delight.

it was incredible.

i couldn't believe it. i kid you not when i say that this is now probably the most common meal that graces my table. my roommates think it's gross, but they have yet to taste it, so to them i say, well, nothing. i just laugh inside as they eat cereal and quesadillas.

tonight i cooked up some chicken, so it was chunks of chicken mixed with rice instead of beans. i added some edimame to the mix, and as i went to put the leftovers in the fridge, i saw the lonely little can of black beans sitting there next to the lonely little carton of cottage cheese... "No," i kind of gasped to myself in wonder, "could I do it?"

i had to.

i added black beans, to the chicken, rice and edimame, microwaved the thing ('thing' being bowl of heaven) and when it came out it was much too hot to eat. (here's another reason i love this meal): i added too big forkfulls of cottage cheese, mixed it all up, and the temperature was perfect for eating, which i did. (i've now finished the bowl). it is so satisfying. i would invite all who enjoy cottage cheese to change it up a little, and try it in a warm dish. and to those who don't: maybe it's time to give it a chance? might i add, these meals are healthy too. maybe brown rice would be better, but i just love basmati rice so much (and i'm still going through a costco bag of the stuff that i got in january... i think it'll last me till next january too).

well, that's all. maybe i'm crazy and i'm the only one who will ever love this, or even try it. i'm fine with that. it makes me so happy.

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bulls-eye... well, almost.

(me & boy)

"do you want to go shooting?"

"shooting what?"

"GUNS."

"um, where?"

"in the mountians."

"...uh..."

"i'm not joking."

"...yes?"

"like right now?"

"well, okay."

and so we went. it was amazing. i had never even held a gun before (well, one that had bullets in it). i shot three different little pistols. my favorite was the silver one. i didn't hit the middle of the target even one time, but i'm okay with it.

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did you get dressed in the dark this morning?

yes. i did.

-

(our power's been turned off due to negligence {not on my part}. plus, it was twenty degrees colder than usual today and frankly, i didn't care how i looked).